IRVINE, Calif. -
The fifth-seeded UC Santa Barbara men's water polo team was unable to pull off an upset against fourth-seed Stanford Friday afternoon in the opening round of the 2006 Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Tournament being held through Sunday at UC Irvine's Anteater Aquatics Complex.

With the loss, the Gauchos fall to 19-14 on the season while the Stanford record is lifted to 17-7.

Stanford outscored UCSB in the first quarter to catch a narrow 3-2 lead to open the game. The Gauchos were able to match the Cardinal goal-for-goal in the second frame to continue to only trail by one at halftime, 6-5.

In the third quarter the two teams continued to play tight each posting a pair of goals, but Stanford was able to seal the game up in the final period with four goals scored to the Gauchos' two to take the game, 12-9.

Eight Gauchos scored in the loss with Coulson Lantz posting a team-leading two goals. Stanford was led by Tyler Drake who had a hat trick in the game. Goalie Rick Wright had 10 saves in the loss.

This was UCSB's second loss of the season to the Cardinal, the Gauchos dropped a home pairing in sudden-victory overtime 11-10 on October 22.

With the loss, UCSB falls into the consolation bracket of the tournament and will face No. 8 seed UC Irvine, a familiar foe this season, at 10 a.m. Saturday morning. The Gauchos have posted a 3-1 record against the Anteaters this season.